TRACK AND FIELD MILLROSE GAMES : O’Sullivan Wins Mile; Coghlan Is Fifth

The sellout crowd of 16,428 rose as one when Eamonn Coghlan of Ireland strode to the starting line to run in the Wanamaker Mile at the 83rd Millrose Games Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

“The ovation from the crowd was a wonderful feeling,” Coghlan said. “I was hoping that it would lift my adrenalin beyond any level it has been since I last ran in this race three years ago.”

But age has robbed Coghlan, 37, of the finishing kick that enabled him to become the world record holder in the indoor mile.

Marcus O’Sullivan of Ireland won in 3 minutes 59.35 seconds, his third consecutive Wanamaker Mile victory. Coghlan finished fifth in 4:01.83.

“I think it was youth over age, and Marcus had more in his legs than I did in mine,” Coghlan said. “Perhaps I was a little bit more ambitious than my ability. But I still feel I can run a sub-four minute mile at this stage of my career.”

Coghlan, known as the Chairman of the Boards after winning the Wanamaker Mile seven times, was boxed in and couldn’t fight his way out.

“Throughout the race there were a number of times where it turned out to be a boxing match,” Coghlan said. “That disrupted my concentration a little bit.”

O’Sullivan maintained his concentration throughout the race, turning in quarter-mile splits of 59.8 seconds, 62.4, 60.9 and 56.1.

Why is O’Sullivan running so well?

“Because he’s an Irishman like me,” Coghlan quipped. “Perhaps what inspires Marcus is the fact that I’ve achieved what I’ve achieved indoors. In Ireland we have heros to look up to. I think that young kids in the United States don’t have enough heros to look up to.”

O’Sullivan said Coghlan’s presence in the race inspired him.

“I had been finding it really hard to get up this winter,” O’Sullivan said. “Psychologically, I think I overworked myself last summer. I didn’t feel as committed as I did in the past.

“The moment I heard that (Coghlan had decided to switch from the 3,000 meters to the mile), my blood started flowing. It was a nice feeling to have him in the race because it got my motivation going.”

The 55-meter high hurdles, which featured seven of the top 10 hurdlers in the world, developed into a race of attrition before former UCLA star Greg Foster prevailed.

Roger Kingdom, two-time Olympic 110-meter high hurdles champion, failed to qualify for the finals after he finished third in his heat.

Although Kingdom was unable to train because of a bout with the flu, he refused to use his illness as an excuse.

“I’m not going to blame it on anything,” Kingdom said. “I just ran bad. My time was off because of not working out in a while because of the flu. But you have to overcome those things and fight back from all adversity.”

Renaldo Nehemiah, the world indoor record-holder, made the final but tripped over the first hurdle and failed to finish.

“I got severe cramps the third or fourth stride out,” Nehemiah said. “I kept trying to run through it, but it got progressively worse. I knew it would take an act of God for me to get over that first hurdle.”

Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the Olympic and world champion in the long jump and heptathlon, didn’t fare as well as she might have either.

Making her 1990 indoor debut, Joyner-Kersee finished second in the women’s 55-meter hurdles behind former Tennessee star LaVonna Martin. Martin (7.41) outkicked Joyner-Kersee (7.47).

Joyner-Kersee said she lost sight of Martin because she was focused on beating Kim McKenzie and Lynda Tolbert.

“I’m not disappointed, it’s a long season,” Joyner-Kersee said. “Last year I ran fast early, but this year I want to be ready for June and July.”

The men’s 600 meters was the closest race of the meet as Butch Reynolds edged Danny Harris in a photo finish. Reynolds was timed in 1:09.22 and Harris in 1:09.27.

Notes

Bryan Dameworth of Agoura High won the boys’ high school mile with a time of 4:14.52, beating Martin Keino of Fork Union, Va. (4.16.63). Keino’s father Kip, a two-time Olympic gold medalist from Kenya, finished last in the masters mile with a time of 5:05.04. It was the first time that a father and son had run in the Millrose Games. . . . Leroy Burrell of Houston set a meet record of 6.11 seconds in the men’s 55-meter dash. Burrell said he has benefited from training with Carl Lewis. “Training with Carl is almost like having an instant success pill,” Burrell said. . . . Doug Padilla won the 3,000 in a meet record time of 7:44.74 and Tyrone Kemp of Florida also set a meet record of 46.85 seconds in the 400.